In carrying out the billing of principal commercial or industrial clients and the like, power utility companies utilize meters which are installed at the pertinent user locations, which meters are associated with recording implements. To provide a recordation of data total and peak power demands, the meters are configured having pulse initiator devices and related circuitry which serve to develop a recordable pulse output in correspondence with KWH meter disc rotation. Thus, the number of pulses developed within a predetermined relatively short interval, called a "demand interval", may be correlated with power usage. Recorders are associated with the meters for providing a record of the pulses and which generally are structured having a recorder deck which receives a magnetic tape cartridge, the tape within which serves, in turn, as a recording medium. Recorded with these pulses are periodic signals which are spaced in time to define the commencement of successive demand intervals. The recorders typically also will incorporate a mechanical register which responds to the generation of each pulse to provide a cumulative total thereof which can be visually read. Also provided for visual inspection is a clock having a conventional twelve hour display.
The magnetic tape cartridge retain tape in an amount adequate to exhibit a recording duration commensurate with the desired billing periods which may range from about thirty to over one hundred days. To achieve this capacity in a practical manner, recording tape speeds are quite slow, typically being about two thousandths of an inch per second.
In performing the recorded pulse billing approach, service personnel of the cognizant billing company periodically visit the sites of the meter-recorder installations at which time they remove the previously installed magnetic tape cartridges and install a cleared or erased one. As part of this exchange, the service personnel are required to develop a written record of informational data associated with the particular meters serviced. These data will include serial number, fictitious customer identification number or the like which is associated with the meter; stop time, representing the time of cartridge removal; and stop register readings, representing the recorded number of pulses at the time of removal of a cartridge. Generally, both the time shown on the recorder clock as well as the corresponding time shown on the service personnel's wrist watch or the like is provided. The thus manually logged information is recorded on a card which is packaged with or attached to the removed magnetic tape cartridge for transfer to a more or less centralized translation facility. Corresponding data are logged with respect to the installation of the cleared cartridge. In this regard, the start register readings and the time of start-up are recorded along with customer identification data and recorder clock times. This information is maintained with the recorder or meter for use in connection with the next servicing visit. As is apparent, the start-up information recorded on the last previous visit again is logged by the operator for incorporation with the removed cartridge. Each of these manual recordation steps constitutes an event of potential human error.
The information containing magnetic cartridges and the manually logged data cards associated with each are transported by mail or by the service personnel to a centralized translation station. At this station, the data retained by the tapes are developed into a computer compatible medium from which billing computations are carried out. As part of this process, however, personnel at the translation station must manually enter into the computerized translation system all data written down by service personnel in the field for each cartridge. Thus, another occasion for the occurrence of human error is introduced into the system. Additionally, in the latter regard, the data cards associated with a given cartridge may be misplaced in transit to the translation station.
The number of magnetic cartridges processed on a day-to-day basis at typical translation stations is quite large, justifying the relatively high capital investment associated with such stations. Further, this translation procedure itself is labor intensive, time being required to enter written data as above-described as well as in transferring tape related data. These data are removed at higher tape speeds, about three and a half minutes typically being required for the procedure, the combined procedures culminating into a relatively lengthy processing period. This processing period results in a relatively heavy personnel cost factor.
Upon transferring data, the magnetic tape within the cartridges must be cleared or erased for reuse and this procedure again requires a labor expenditure. Additionally, it has been considered desirable to verify that the tape has been properly erased. However, mechanisms for carrying out such tape certification have been found to require a considerable investment and thus, tape verification procedures typically are not resorted to.
The general location of the translation station with respect to metering sites varies for each utility company. In areas of dense industrial installations, all of the metering and recording sites may be located within facile commuting distance from the station. However, the business expanse of many power utility companies encompasses wide geographical regions, often including several states or governmental regions and requiring communication between metering and translation stations over distances spanning as much as hundreds of kilometers. It would appear, therefore, that in view of these communicating distances, some form of telecommunication should be established between remotely located magnetic tape cartridge reading implements and centrally located, more expensive and elaborate translation stations. Unfortunately, magnetic tape cartridges, being read at much higher tape speeds than those provided during recording to achieve the noted three and a half minute read-out time, are not suited for telecommunication forms of transmission. They either must be shipped or hand carried to the translation stations. Such forms of tape cartridge transportion, in addition to being subject to human error, impose billing delays costly to the power utility companies in terms of cash flow and the like.